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According to the list given to the cheerleaders for treat bags being made for Meet the Eagles Friday night, Rye Cove has 37 varsity players listed. 4 Seniors. 10 Juniors. 9 Sophomores and 14 Freshmen. Probably the biggest roster for the Cove in around 20 years.

They’re just waiting on Buddy Garrity to install the mailbox in the vacant lot east of Destiny Outreach

He's holding out. Waiting on better living accommodations and a signing bonus.

Seldom do I get to use my college major, but now is one of those times. The Roman Empire collapsed due to myriad reasons that I will fit into 5 categories (which are incomplete summaries that I draft such that this isn't TL;DR). The current United States draws some eerie parallels. (1) Rome: Overpopulation by non-Roman ethnic (barbarian) peoples. As Rome expanded, Rome incorporated the subjugated peoples into its population and particularly its military. When the Germanic invasions of the 400s took place, Roman military forces had virtually no ethnic or cultural ties to the motherland, and were more sympathetic to the invaders than the army it served. As Rome was over-expanded, there was no resistance in the interior to keep the Germanic tribes from sacking Rome over and over again. United States: Influx of non-native population due to tepid, ineffective immigration policy. As the United States ceased its expansion in the 1950s, immigration from the second-world of Latin America increased substantially. From essentially the Clinton Administration onward, there has been no reasonable plan offered to grant immigrants a speedy, holistic, and universal path to citizenship that fosters a sense of belonging to the greater whole. It's akin to Lucy trying to eat chocolates coming off the conveyor belt. What has resulted is a population that has virtually no ethnic or cultural ties to the motherland, and is more sympathetic to the nation whence it came than the one it currently shares with others. It's one of many types of fracturing. (2) Rome: Generational economic stagnation and over-reliance on slave labor. Rome was not only under attack from the outside, but it was rotting from within. Constant military activity and runaway overspending choked the imperial economy. Inflation and taxation evasion widened the gap between rich and poor. Rome typically relied on slave labor to tend its agrarian economy, but the lack of expansion ground it to a halt. United States: Beginnings of generational economic stagnation and lack of a qualified workforce. The United States has had incomprehensible overspending, particularly on the military budget, since the Reagan years (2 generations). Inflation has greatly out-stepped the rise in wages. Coupled with inadequate corporate taxation and far too many tax loopholes for the ultra-wealthy, the middle class in America is disintegrating into dust. American capitalism relies much too greatly on underpaid menial labor to support itself, and that portion of the workforce is now voluntarily excluding itself. There is a substantial labor deficit combined with "stagflation". (3) Rome: The schism of the Western Empire hastened the collapse of the Eastern Empire. Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into East and West. This was penny wise and pound foolish. East and West worked together very poorly and often squabbled over resources and imperial defense. The Greek-leaning West experienced prosperity, while the Latin-leaning East dissolved. United States: Europe is kicking our ass and we don't have the political and ideological infrastructure to keep up. The United States spends about 3x the money on healthcare per capita than its European counterparts, yet lags significantly behind them in life expectancy. According to the Social Progress Imperative, the United States ranks 18th of 128 countries based on 3 criteria: (1) availability of basic human needs, (2) access to information, and (3) personal rights / freedoms and access to education. The Top 5? Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland. Europe is prospering, the United States is not. (4) Rome: Corrupt government and political instability. Being the Roman Emperor sucked. During one period spanning between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, over 20 Emperors reigned in the span of barely 75 years. The Praetorian Guard would even auction the spot at times to the highest bidder. The Roman Senate was weak and feckless against the corruption. Romans essentially lost trust in their government. United States: Corrupt government and political cronyism. The same two parties have controlled American political discourse for 160 years. Essentially, that complacency has led the enterprise of becoming the President amounting to opening the coffers to pay for slick media production and presentation, hoping the middle 10% of the country chooses "your guy". Congress is weak and feckless against the political machine, and is all to happy to abdicate anything resembling a check/balance on the executive. The middle 60% of Americans have lost complete trust in the federal government. (5) Rome: Christianity and the loss of traditional values. The decline of Rome ran parallel with Constantine's proclamation of conversion to Christianity. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it became the official state religion in 380. While this was a long-term net positive, ending the barbaric persecutions of antiquity and laying the foundation for the advancements to be made a millennium in the future, in the short term, monotheism displacing polytheism fractured the social fabric by shifting focus away from the state and toward a divine deity. Further, Popes and clergy, who were not seasoned in managing and building a nation, took an increased role in political affairs, often making disastrous decisions. United States: Wokism and the loss of traditional values. The decline of the United States is running parallel with the rise of wokism and the assault on classical American values. While in the long-term, a nation without persecution for living an alternative lifestyle must be obtained before the goal of freedom can be obtained, progress needs to be gradual and sustained. Wokism is determined to scorch and salt the earth to remove any and all traces of people or ideas that do not fit the woke agenda. Ironically, for many adherents of Wokism, this includes Christianity, which displaced the traditional values of Rome. Wokism is ripping social fabric along urban/rural and socioeconomic lines. Those who espouse wokism are those who are not seasoned in managing and building a nation, and they often advocate for disastrous, untenable positions. Is this list perfect? Of course not. I typed this in under an hour, so it's not meant to be a dissertation. But I hope it stirs some thoughtful, meaningful discussion.

DuktheCook Walker......good one

Scrimmage Games listed as being on NFHS. Don't know if they will be, but they are listed on the NFHS schedule. 1. Giles vs Hidden Valley on the 11th and Giles vs Cburg on the 19th. First discrepancy....I thought we scrimmaged HV on the 12th, so does NFHS have it wrong or has the scrimmage date been moved? I think NFHS has it wrong 2. Tazewell vs Radford on the 12th. 3. Galax vs Hedgesville on the 19th. 4. Richlands vs Grundy on the 18th. 5. Appomattox vs Liberty on the 12th. 6. Glenvar vs William Byrd on the 12th. 7. Blacksburg vs Floyd County on the 12th. 8. Pulaski vs Franklin County on the 12th 9. Lee vs DuktheCook Walker on 19th. 10. Buckingham Co. vs Halifax Co 19th. 11. Gretna vs Halifax Co. On the 12th Teams that have NO scrimmages scheduled/listed to be on NFHS as of today are Bluefield, Union, Ridgeview, Graham, Chilhowie, Holston, Gate City, McCluer, Riverheads, Narrows, Salem, LCA, Burton.

I heard he was enrolling today & had to get VHSL physical. Now, if he’ll post that completed form to this thread, we can settle the height/weight debate 😂.

It's Monday. I'm just happy I haven't walked out in front of a bus yet.

Graham giving everyone a head start. 😉

OK, I stand corrected on the results of the 2021 Division 3 championship game. FWIW I generally lose interest in the postseason once Liberty (Bedford) is eliminated from contention -- and lately that's been an accomplished fact around mid season. On another aside... the change in classification for Phoebus is another interesting case in point. Back to the realignment discussion... If LCA wants to continue to "play up" at the Division 3 level then I don't think there's any doubt at all that VHSL will approve that appeal. My opinion (which isn't informed by inside information on that specific question) is that they will not appeal the reclassification because they will have a significant competitive advantage at Division 2. It's definitely possible that poster ehcwasp may have some insight into the LCA operation that the rest of us don't -- and I will certainly be happy to be wrong in this case. In case anyone cares, I'm hearing all kinds of conflicting information about Liberty (Bedford) -- which isn't surprising because our athletic department is completely screwed up right now. One varsity coach advised me that we are in fact staying in the Seminole District and his view was that we would petition to "play up" to Division 3. Another assistant coach in another sport told me that we would be dropping to Division 2 and joining the Dogwood District. I do note that "Liberty - Bed" is highlighted in the published alignment plan for some reason. Time will tell....

It’s only Richlands. Instead of just a Blue/White game, they’ve made it into a day-long festival. Varsity will scrimmage. JV, middle school & RMFL will all scrimmage as well. Plus: INFLATABLES • FACE PAINTING • DANCE PARTY ON THE FIELD •DUNKING BOOTH • VENDORS WELCOME • CHILI COOKOFF • PIE BAKING CONTEST • DJ & LIVE MUSIC And fireworks at 10pm.

I have watched Grahams practice the past couple days and the whole time there were helicopters bringing in possible recruits from different states because they all want to live in this area and go to Graham. There was a RB in ESPN's top 5 that is coming in from Southern Cal today to see if he fits what the program is looking for. Graham has risen in such popularity they are cancelling the Bluefield game to play Bishop Sycamore on TV in Primetime.

Richlands is gonna fall in the mid-to-low 60’s sounds like. That’s an uptick from last years numbers.

Most people have figured out by now, never pay attention to what Galax does during 7-on-7 or scrimmages. The kids playing are rarely starters and hardly ever playing their true position (starter or not). 7-on-7 and scrimmages are used explicitly for building depth and finding out what other positions players can play in case of injury. I remember several years ago, Galax struggled mightily in the benefit game against a very bad Floyd team. Galax won but the final score was something like 38-35. Message board geniuses were out in force predicting the demise of the Galax program. The run was over according to the keyboard warriors. What anyone in attendance saw, was a Galax team that never played a single member of the core of its lineup. It was mostly the previous season's JV kids with a few upperclassmen needing experience and reps mixed in. The next two weeks, Galax beat Glenvar 31-18 and Radford 48-3.